A horse, a horse!
(Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard III)
Quartair takes as its starting point the famous centuries old bronze horses
chariot on the Basilica San Marco in Venice.
This work of exceptional craftsmanship is a landmark of art but also tells
a story of changing powers.
Looted from Constantinople during the first crusades stolen by Napoleon,
then returned to Venice under command
of the emperor of Austria. Now the original horses remain inside because
of ongoing damage caused by air pollution.

Traveling and transformation are the key words of our concept : A Horse,
A Horse!

Horses has been with
us since ancient times.
They appeared in pre-historic cave drawings and in myths as symbol of strength
and vitality.
Horses have been a symbol of death, but also life, transforming through
time.

Quartair will 'Jump
into the unknown' on a lifesize horse with articular limbs.
Brought to life the animal will become part of a journey of different stories.
Traveling from The Hague to Venice the horse will show up and transform
in different performing spaces.

A Horse, a horse..., Thom Vink, Geeske Harting, Jessy Rahman, Pietertje
van Splunter.
For the exhibition "Jump into the Unknown", part of the 56th Venice
Biennale, Thom Vink, Geeske Harting, Jessy Rahman and Pietertje of Splunter
developed the art project "A horse, a horse" which reports on
a (fictional) trip a life-size horse. This horse was used in the Netherlands
and Venice
for films and performances. The horse sails on a boat through the Westland
and emerges from the water as Hippocampus. The individual artists
tell their own story and over the horse during the trip from The Hague to
Venice, is saddled with more stories, myths and meanings.
These actions are documented and resulted in a number of short films that
where shown in the exhibition "Jump in to the Unknown"
and now at Quartair in the Hague.

Machines
of loving grace - Harold de Bree, Mike Watson
The advance of surveillance beckons its eventual ubiquity. In a completely
advanced surveillance society there can be no escape, even for those who
develop the technology in order to further their own interests.
This system echoes that described by Orwell in 1984, yet rather than
the cameras working in one direction, as the surveillance of the public
by law enforcement agencies, it appears that the public, with cameras
ever at the ready, are just as implicit in this surveillance machine as
the 'State'. It seems no one is free from the surveillance machine, and,
further, that everyone finds themselves as an operator of it.
In a sense this is empowering, yet at the same time, no amount of participation
will lead to power over the surveillance mechanism itself just as no amount
of exposure to the extent of surveillance will free us from it.
Edward Snowdens exposure of the level of government surveillance over
the populace in the USA and other Western countries has been fundamental
in aligning the debate over surveillance and internet use.
However, many people already assumed such a level of continuous blanket
espionage. The risk is that it being made so visible will make it an acceptable
part of life.
Mike Watson, from forth coming book "Joan of Art: Towards a Conceptual
Militancy'.
The aim of the work is to play with the unease felt by the audience, watched
by the ever-increasing presence of security technology and their complicity
within it. Within the unique island structure of Venice
and during the opening events of the Venice Biennale this should be particularly
effective.

A
series of fast public surveillance performances will target high visibility
areas. Locations will include: San Marco Square, Ponte di Rialto, Ponte
Accadamia, Santa Margerita square, Santa Maria Della Salute,
Viale Giuseppe Garibaldi, Via Garibaldi.Later at the exhibition "Jump
into the Unknown", part of the 56th Venice Biennale.
A video is shown as part of an installation. Made from material shot when
the performances where taken place, as if taken from a security camera's,
4 shots on one monitor.
The monitor standing on a pile of the Black Flag publications.
The title of this publication derives from the injunction which the office
of the Biennale di Venezia issued to the artists during the process of gaining
permission to feature the work as an official Biennale event.
Our performers could fly a flag in any colour, so long as it wasnt
black.
The content of the publication: the rights of citizens when arrested in
the 83 participating countries of the 56 Venice Biennial.